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How to Translate a Website to Boost Global Growth

Here are some cost-effective tips.

Lonnie Dahm

Updated on August 28, 2024

Translating your website should be one of your top priorities in 2024, as it’s the best way to stand out to your target audience; why so? English content has been adopted by 64% of all websites, giving you the opportunity to make yours unique — expanding your business globally at a faster pace than others. 

In this article, we have outlined why and how you should translate a website in the fastest and most cost-effective way.

How to Translate a Website to Boost Global Growth

Why is Translating Your Website Highly Important in 2024?

Translating your website’s content is one of the smartest marketing tactics that will boost your global growth, connecting you deeply with potential customers. Enter international markets by speaking your audience’s language and breaking all barriers.

What Are the Most Important Web Pages to Translate?

By analyzing your website’s analytics, you can strategically plan which pages need to be translated, focusing on the visited pages.

  • Pages that are highly likely to generate leads (CTA, landing page, blogs, case studies)
  • SEO content translation (meta tags, keywords, URLs)
  • Navigation options (buttons, forms, sign up)

Now, you might be thinking, why not just use Google Translate instead of other options? To truly connect with your target audience, you must understand their cultural nuances, the words that persuade them, and the style that makes them feel connected. 

To align your brand’s message with the uniqueness of each language, you should opt for options like localization and human and machine translation.

Here’s How You Can Translate Your Website into Different Languages To Boost Global Growth

Translating websites can be your powerful source to increase your sales and revenue. Although there are multiple ways to translate your web content, here are the most common ones.

Human Translation (HT)
Not understanding the context of your brand’s message can block a potential sale. 

That’s where human translation comes in. It requires an expert linguist to understand the nuances of audience preferences and fill the gap of language barriers.

The only thing you need to consider is that it’s more time-consuming and costly than other translating tools. Nonetheless, human translators will transform the content accurately, making sure nothing impedes your audience from understanding your brand’s motive.

Machine Translation (MT)
Machine translation — using tools such as Google Translate — is the traditional and convenient translating method. However, it often falls short of providing the accuracy and nuance required for professional translation.

In particular, website content heavily relies on persuasive call-to-actions and guides that require a deep understanding of your audience’s nativity. Machine translation can’t capture these subtleties — making it a poor choice for such projects.

Having said that, if you’re looking to translate internal documents that won’t be shared publicly or project reports and manuals, Google Translate can be a valuable tool to get a general understanding of the content.

Hybrid Translation (MT & HT)
This method combines machine translation and human translation, making it the best choice for multiple web pages.

Combining the expertise of human linguists and the speed of machines will make the website produce precise results for the audience. However, this method can be expensive and small business owners should look for services that offer a tiered subscription level. Large-scale businesses should definitely opt for this option for translating their website to increase sales.

AI Translator
AI Translator is a cost-effective translation method that combines the expertise of traditional methods, ideal for aligning it with culturally relevant content. 

Moreover, it is the quickest method to translate websites. It will facilitate your global expansion and benefit businesses of every scale.

Things You Should Consider Before Translating Your Website

These are the things you should look out for before translating your website.

Localizing Your Website
When you localize your website, it’s important to go beyond just translating the text. You should also make your website design adaptable to users, adjusting the visuals, colors, number format, and page layout.

An extensive market research analysis is important to block cultural errors that might not resonate with your ideal customers. 

To effectively localize your website design, integrate a multilingual website design approach to meet your audience’s preferences.

Target Audience Analysis
Conducting comprehensive research into your target audience’s background and language preferences prior to translating the web content. 

Understanding your target audience will help you learn about their needs, interests, and pain points.

International SEO – Global Boost
Optimizing your multilingual website for foreign markets may be complex, but with this checklist below, you can effectively boost your SEO strategy.

  • Determine the languages relevant to target markets.
  • Comprehensive keyword research for each specific market.
  • Translate URLs.
  • Build backlinks to translated websites.
  • Make sure to check with the common laws and regulations of each targeted market.
  • Improve your website’s performance by hosting your website on servers with a local IP address.
  • Customize date formats and currencies to align with regional standards.

Choosing the Suitable Translating Option
What you need is minimized delays and maximized resources. Particularly when translating a website, choosing the right option is important to maintain the workflow.

Consider opting for a cloud-based software that offers CMS compatibility. GlobalLink Web offers a variety of options with intuitive usability. Ensure you thoroughly evaluate the features of your translation software to determine if they align with your requirements. Including translation memory, API-based quality assurance, and collaboration tools can significantly enhance efficiency and accuracy. 

In today’s global market, speaking your audience’s language is important for success. At GlobalLink Web, we make website translation easy, accessible, and effective for businesses of all sizes. 

As a part of TransPerfect, the world’s largest provider of translation-related technology and services, we boost your website’s global growth with our decades of expertise to help you increase your revenue.

  • Easy integrations: Our platform seamlessly incorporates with your preferred CMS, allowing for a swift setup and smooth operation.
  • Editing tools: GlobalLink Web offers a powerful and intuitive set of editing tools designed for convenience, flexibility, and collaboration, ensuring that your translations are always accurate and polished.
  • Global translation: Our Global Translation Memory feature allows you to easily track and translate high-value keywords and terms, ensuring consistency across all your translations — it saves time and effort and improves the overall quality of your content.
  • Management tools: Maintain your brand voice and tone across all languages with our advanced brand management tools. Effortlessly enforce style guides and branded terms to provide a consistent and cohesive brand image.

By implementing cutting-edge translation and localization technology, GlobalLink Web streamlines workflows, enhances accuracy and efficiency, and improves the quality and consistency of your international communication.

Are you ready to take your website translation efforts to the next level? Sign up for GlobalLink Web today and expand your global reach with confidence!

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About the author

Lonnie Dahm

Lonnie is the Director of Client Services for GlobalLink Web. In addition to helping clients create the best possible localized websites, he enjoys working on his cars in his spare time.

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